Aaron Freeman - Nature Man (lyrics)

Nature Man (Aaron Freeman)

You could be my Nature Man

And I could be your Nature Girl

Walking with our boots on 

Streams of love trickling down 

Mr. Nature Man comes to me like a little girl

throwing daggers in the buildings

Southern eyes of greed and shame

Skin of paste and liquor

 throw your line to me I see your pain

You could be my Nature Man

And I could be your Nature Girl

Walking with our boots on 

Streams of love trickling down 

Have you held a newborne flower? 

Plucked yourself a sprig of Thyme in summer

A Yam in winter

 Take the shell of your soul and come with me

You could be my Nature Man

And I could be your Nature Girl

Walking with our boots on

Streams of love trickling down

The Cerebine's life, the berries glow

The seeds I have to show make growth seem like a possibility

The flesh peels, the bark peels off the flesh 

and succumbs to me

You could be my Nature Man

And I could be your Nature Girl

Walking with our boots on

Streams of love trickling down

Aaron Freeman (the now-deceased Gene Ween) was known in his now-former band Ween for writing the huge compendium of songs in their repertoire from which they would dip freely.  One of the things that made Gener such a thrilling performer was that he could sing in 4 or 5 different styles quite well including various vocoded and semi-demonic (but friendly demonic) altered voices.  In his very public meltdown at a Vancouver Ween performance, having lost a severe amount of weight over a matter of months, there were legitimate concerns that much deeper issues were at play than bananas and blow and pot brownie poisonings afoot.  One of the reviewers of that show rightly described one of his voices as a high pitched falsetto reminiscent of the Heat Miser (from A Year Without Santa Clause)- except in that performance his voice seemed to get stuck in that voice about half way through and never deviated after.

But for all of the debauch in the Ween repertoire- and it is a bloated lot suh that even listing relevant song titles and drug references would be largely futile- Freeman was just as much known for his blue-eyed soul. Ween are not a Philadelphia band they are rather proudly from New Hope, Pennsylvania but their song Freedom of '76 is a modern marvel in the Philadelphia Soul tradition.   Nature Man belongs strongly in the vein of those tender heart warming ballads that made up an important place in any live Ween show, songs such as: Birthday Boy, Baby Bitch, Stay Forever, Tender Situation, Flutes of Chi.

Freeman has been playing Nature Man live since at least June of 2012, numerous good sounding versions are out there including this one from Reggatabar which comes off as unintentionally comedic.  The inversion of Freeman as the Nature Girl 'walking with out boots on' is intended to play for some laughs.  But it's clear in listening to the recorded and interrupted (with laughter) live version that there is notsomuch humour hear as a harrowing and searching walk past the void upon whose edges he'd danced like a satyr over a volcano's lip.